I have to admit those e-bike things annoyed the heck out of me when they first started appearing on our side streets, commuter roads, sidewalks and even the walkways in parks.

Tattooed or not, the e-“bikers” initially bugged me because of their lack of manners, absence of road sense and utter lack of common sense. Turning into heavy traffic without signalling? Really?

Too many of them seem to weave around like drunks on those itty bitty e-wheels. In parks they always sneak up behind you like a Ninja assassin without the courtesy of even clearing their throats.

And why would anyone with so little protection brave the suicidal narrowness of Riverside Drive East in rush hour, when even sane car drivers are terrified of being side-swiped?

Some e-bikers seem to have a smoke in one hand and a coffee in the other while doing four miles per hour wearing NASA-rated blackout helmets they can’t possibly see out of.

I’ll leave the rest of their questionable wardrobe choices for Karen Hall to dissect in a column. She may even point out how many of them could benefit from getting off their bikes and walking a bit more.

But suddenly, after one hugely hypocritical debate by Windsor city council this week, the rebel side of me is starting to side with the beleaguered and belittled owners of e-bikes.

If all the forces of big government have set their sights on taxing and regulating and controlling them, I think I’m on the side of the greeny-weenies. The world desperately needs a good way for people to get around town while living off the transportation tax grid.

Is it really necessary to give bureaucrats the power to regulate, license and tax every form of movement other than walking? Because once they start, they won’t stop until their taxes equal the cost of the e-bikes.

That’s what they’ve done to cars. The “government cost” of owning a vehicle over its lifetime surpassed the purchase price and depreciation cost some years ago according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.

Own a $30,000 car for five years and the fees, taxes, HST, tickets and other forms of government parasitism combine to exceed the purchase price. (Don’t forget: half the cost of gasoline and insurance is tax).

You had to get the impression during Monday’s council debate that the tax-free status of e-bikes is what gets the goat of some politicians, particularly the ones on the left.

The opponents of e-bikes claim they pose a safety risk to pedestrians because of their speed and weight in the event of a collision. A mountain bike or a skateboard with a 200-lb. teenager on it poses a nearly equal danger — possibly even a greater risk to the ankles and mobility of seniors on a sidewalk.

That’s not enough legal reason to license or ban either of those other forms of conveyance. But they can’t be effectively taxed, can they? Teenagers don’t have enough income to tax.

They say e-bikes pose a danger to drivers. So what? Every moving object poses a danger to drivers, from tumbleweeds to house cats crossing the road at night. Do we ban cats, too, or maybe put little reflective yellow safety vests on them? (The HST on those vests would add up to millions!)

The ideas proffered by city council this week boiled down to the boundless hunger of government to regulate and tax every aspect of human life.

That’s how the vote broke down between members of Windsor’s city council: the half that generally sees more government as the solution to all problems voted for a ban of e-bikes from sidewalks, heavier sanctions and a further “study” of the devices. (The study would have taken at least until late fall, when most of them would be off the road for the winter anyway. Thanks, geniuses).

The other half of council — the half that generally sides with the rights of citizens and taxpayers over government — voted for a compromise involving some half-hearted regulations to silence the whiners. The mayor broke the tie to support the e-bike freedom side of council’s split.

The e-biker fraternity would be wise to remember which councillors were on their side this week, because the revenuers will be coming after them again.

Some of them want to force e-bikers to buy insurance. What a naked money grab: Ontario’s automotive and motorcycle insurance rates are so hugely inflated they should be the subject of a criminal investigation, not expansion to cyclists. People can sue the pants off any e-rider who hits them — what more protection do they need?

Part of this assault on the freedom of e-riders is their own fault, however. Had they had the common sense to install an old-fashioned, “ring-ring” bicycle bell on their machines at a cost of $5.99 from Canadian Tire and had the courtesy to use them while riding in parks and on sidewalks, half the public annoyance and risk they pose would be neutralized.

Maybe then the greedier politicians would be forced to move off in search of easier prey to tax and regulate.

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Essex MP Jeff Watson confirmed Saturday that the federally-owned Paul Martin Building will be sold to the city for $1 and converted into a law school building for the University Windsor, as previously reported by The Windsor Star.

Essex MP Jeff Watson announced Saturday that the federal government will invest $3.5 million to "make FINA a success." He made the announcement at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre on behalf of Sports Minister Bal Gosal.

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